


Miles from Nowhere

by AquaMarinara



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: (because they do charity work now I guess), Basically Jughead runs the Greendale Humane Society Adoption Day Fair, F/M, For the Serpents, If anyone's into that, That I obviously turned into the fluffiest of fluffs, We've got some hints of mutual pining, and Betty comes to pet the puppies, drabble prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 01:19:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16231223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquaMarinara/pseuds/AquaMarinara
Summary: Prompt: you came to look at the puppies i have for sale and you’re so into it that i can’t help but kneel down and help you assess them auOrFP forces Jughead to run the Pet Adoption Day booth in Pickens Park. He's not happy about it, at all, until a certain blonde shows up.





	Miles from Nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> So, in an effort to get through my writer's block, I asked Dottie to send me a prompt today, and here's the result of that.
> 
> Thank you so much to Dottie for both sending me the prompt and looking this over for me. Love ya, girl.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this little fic!

He’s often accused of being pretentious. Arrogant. Overly confident.

 

Toni tries to sound more eloquent than Sweet Pea, or Fangs, and puts it as “lacking self-awareness.”

 

He fights them on it. Every time. He’s self-aware. He knows his flaws.

 

For one, he should really learn how to say “No.”

 

More specifically, he should really learn how to say “No” to his father.

 

Because while every other Serpent cleans, polishes, and readies the Wyrm for tonight’s Karaoke Night fundraiser, he gets to sit at table in the middle of humid Pickens Park, surrounded by cats and dogs galore.

 

The Greendale Humane Society had partnered with the Serpents weeks ago as part of FP’s initiative to get the gang “back on the wagon.” Apparently, that means partaking in charity events and running the Humane Society’s annual fundraiser, the Adopt-A-Pet-A-Thon.

 

(Jughead doesn’t think they could come up with a worse name if they tried.)

 

FP had volunteered Jughead for the pet adoption fair, using his son’s time spent at Riverdale High as justification.  _ (“Those damn Northsiders would never deal with a Serpent, Jug, but you’re different. They know you. You’re one of them.”)  _

 

Jughead had never wanted to scream at his father more. He’s not one of them. He’s not one of  _ either _ of them.

 

Half-Northside, half-Southside, full-Nowhere. 

 

Unfortunately, as often happened with him and his father, Jughead had let himself cave to FP’s demands. His father was  _ trying _ now, after all, and who was he to fight that?

 

So he sits, boots crossed on top of each other on the plastic fold-out table in front of him, scowling as families of Northsiders walk by the crates of puppies lined up in front of him.

 

A number of small children run up to the pets, shrieking, excited at the prospect of getting to pet the kitties, or puppies, or bunnies, only to get shooed away by their parents. They often narrow their eyes at him, pour over his appearance (boots, beanie, and all), and shuffle away haughtily, dragging their wailing children behind them.

 

Jughead chuckles.  _ So much for appealing to the Northsiders, huh, Dad? _

 

He picks his book up off the table, hellbent on finding a way to spend this time productively, but his gaze wanders from the written word when a streak of blonde flashes in his peripherals. 

 

A blonde ponytail, to be specific. It swings behind her as she weaves between crates, cooing at the litter of German Shepherds and group of Calico kittens as she goes.

 

He’d always admired her back at Riverdale High. From a distance, of course. The smartest, kindest, most beautiful person in the school. Being that happy-go-lucky all the time had to be exhausting, and yet he’d never seen her any other way.

 

She’d never even spared him a glance, but he didn’t hold that against her. Jughead Jones was invisible. Especially to girls like Betty Cooper.

 

He’s perfectly content to sit back in his chair, let her play with the rust-colored cocker spaniel in the corner of the grass lot until she inevitably grows bored and walks away, but then she’s waving at him, and he’s forced to look up.

 

“Hey, Jughead?” she calls out, and he nearly trips over himself to get to her. Maybe he hadn’t been so invisible. There’s no way she could have guessed that name.

 

“Uh, hi,” he stammers, stopped a few steps away from her. “What’s up?”

 

_ What’s up?! Goddammit, Jughead. _

 

“What’s this little guy’s name?” she asks, eyes still focused on the dog.

 

“That’s Gunther.”

 

“Gunther?” Her nose wrinkles, and he shoves his laugh down with the rest of his feelings.

 

“What, you got an aversion to unusual names?”

 

“No,” she pauses, eyes dragging up to his face as he moves to kneel next to her. “In fact, I really like the name Jughead.”

 

He can feel his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “You really like the name Jughead? Seriously?”

 

She brings her fingers to her chin, pretending to mull over the thought, and then sits up straight. “You’re right. Now that I think about it, the name itself is,” she shrugs her shoulders, “meh. I mean, Jug-Head. Who came up with that?”

 

Jughead watches a wicked grin transform her features. Betty Cooper, the troll. Who knew.

 

“I think I just  _ thought _ I liked it because I once knew this guy named Jughead. He was amazing. Smart, sarcastic, could take down a jock just by asking him to spell ‘necrophilia’ in a room full of his peers.”

 

She reaches up to pull his beanie off his head, revealing his inky black locks, and settles it over her own head of blonde hair. 

 

“He wasn’t bad-looking, either. I liked him a lot.” Suddenly, she tilts her head to look down at the grass. Gunther yips beside them. “But then he moved schools, and I never saw him again. Shame, really.”

 

“Why’s that?” he whispers, eyes focused on her, heart nearly beating out of his chest.

 

“Because I never got to do this.” It’s said quickly, decisively, and then Betty Cooper’s lips are on his.

 

Finally, Jughead knows exactly where he belongs. Not the Northside, not the Southside, but with Betty Cooper. Wherever she may be, forever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Pure fluff, right? Well, I warned you.
> 
> Anywho, I really do hope you enjoyed it. Please leave any questions, comments, concerns, or reviews down below.
> 
> If you'd like to send me a prompt, or just chat with me, I'm over on tumblr @[writeraquamarinara](https://writeraquamarinara.tumblr.com).
> 
> Kisses! <3


End file.
